John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVODL (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902)—known as Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet from 1837 to 1869 and usually referred to simply as Lord Acton—was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He was the only son of Sir Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton, 7th Baronet and a grandson of the Neapolitan admiral Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet. He is perhaps best known for the remark, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." This idea has been tested in laboratory settings.

Early life

Acton's grandfather, who in 1791 succeeded to the baronetcy and family estates in Shropshire, previously held by the English branch of the Acton family, represented a younger branch which had transferred itself first to France and then to Italy. However, by the extinction of the elder branch, the admiral became head of the family. His eldest son, Richard, married Marie Louise Pelline, the only daughter and heiress of Emmerich Joseph, 1st Duc de Dalberg, a naturalised French noble of ancient German lineage who had entered the French service under Napoleon and represented Louis XVIII at the Congress of Vienna in 1814. After Sir Richard Acton's death in 1837, she became the wife of the 2nd Earl Granville (1840). Marie Louise Pelline de Dalberg was heiress of Herrnsheim in Germany. She became the mother of John Dalberg-Acton who was born in Naples.

Power Corrupts

The flames of degradation burn and curl up to the skyThey tell you when you're going wrong but they'll nevertell you whyThey got all this power and they shove it in your faceStomp you to the ground just to keep you in your placePower corruptsAttitudes adjustPower corrupts and...Absolute power absolutely corruptsAbsolute power absolutely corrupts... AbsolutelyThey just stand there watching, got a finger on thetriggerNever believe the other mans gun is always biggerI've seen 'em come and I've seen 'em go and I've seenthem in the dirtParalyzed with fear cuz they got nothing to assertSo now we're all on the scrap heap, got no souls left tosaveWe're nurtured and we're prodded from the cradle to thegraveIt's a jungle out there and you're an animal with a past